Commissioners approve 2019 budget

XENIA — Greene County commissioners approved a $57.8 million budget for the 2019 general fund at their Nov. 15 meeting.

The approval comes nearly seven weeks before the end of the year, and several months before the Ohio Revised Code’s deadline.

“This is one of the earliest [times] we’ve ever approved a budget,” Commissioner Tom Koogler said. “That’s a tribute to all the people involved that worked on it.”

County Administrator Brandon Huddleson said board members spent about three hours at a work session last week to go through the budget line by line before approval. But the board agreed that collectively — alongside department heads and local officials — parties had worked hundreds of hours on the budget since August.

With a budget set before Jan. 1, departments know how much they have for the entire year.

“Especially this early, they can go ahead and start making plans for expenses and all of 2019 by having these numbers,” Huddleson said.

About $5.6 million of the total $57,846,868 in the general fund budget will go toward capital improvement expenses, Huddleson said. That leaves $52.2 million for operational expenses in the budget.

Huddleson said his 2019 revenue estimate is $54.2 million, meaning the budget — not counting the capital improvements — is $2 million lower than anticipated revenue.

The departments and offices that appear in Greene County’s budget include the Board of Elections, Common Pleas Court, County Services, Engineer, Treasurer, Veterans Services and more. Departments that saw their appropriations increase from the previous budget include Data Processing, Parks & Trails, and the Sheriff’s Office.

The 2018 general fund budget totaled to $58,182,735 — broken down into a $49.8 million operational piece and the remainder going toward capital improvement and budget stabilization.